Basic Book of Photography, Fifth Edition

Rating:
Summary: A good buying guide, but you won't learn to take pictures
Review: While this book is full of 500+ pages of information, it reads mostly like a survey of available photographic tools and a buyers guide for cameras, lenses, accessories, and even darkroom equipment.

Tucked in amongst all that is a fair amount of knowledge on how it all works, and lots of discussion about film characteristics, but not very much about composing photographs and selecting exposures. I had hoped to become a better photographer with the help of this book, but found Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure much more helpful in that regard.

For digital enthusiasts (including me), this book is especially lacking. It has one chapter covering digital camera selection, but other than that, ignores their existence. Especially grating was the lack of discussion of digital options for infrared photography or the impact of the CCD size on lens focal length.

In the end, I was dissatisfied with the topics covered in the book, as they seemed to do little to accomplish the primary function of any photography book -- to make me a better photographer. Do I know more about camera accessories (including tele-extenders, expansion tubes, filters, studio flashes and umbrellas) than before? Yes, but since I don't plan on buying most of this equipment (except the filters, whose actual use was only covered in a cursory fashion), I am little the wiser.

On the other hand, if you're thinking about some serious photographic purchases, particularly in film cameras and studio equipment, and have never done any research of your own, perhaps this is the book for you.